So where should you locate your distribution center this is a really
common problem and let me share some tips that will help you work that out
So if you're working in a big supply chain operation maybe national or
internationally trying to work out where you should have distribution centres is
a very common problem and let me show you some tips on that
Hi my name's Rob O'Byrne from supply chain secrets and if it's your first
time to this channel this is where we can share lots of tips about supply
chain management whether you're new to the game or you're kind of mid-career
so I've been helping people with that exact challenge for about thirty years
where should we locate our distribution centers how many should we have and what
I want to do today is to share with you some of the core principles okay now you
might be wondering where I am we're out on earth Sunday morning on the
Hawkesbury River just north of Sydney we're about 40 kilometres north of the
city and why am I here well believe it or not there are a couple of
distribution centers about ten kilometres back towards Sydney why would
people put distribution centers out in an area like this well it's probably
cheap land costs maybe cheaper labor costs but there's a lot more costs to be
considered when you think about these locations and I'll share some of that
down below with some charts and so on which will really help you so where
So should we put our distribution centres
I don't think it should be here
now in terms of the national for the footprint of distribution centers
here we are just
north of Sydney if we go across this bridge heading north we're about 900
kilometers we'll be in Brisbane
if we head south about 900 kilometres we'll be
in Melbourne and there's a few reasonable sized towns in between think
about your own distribution network for a moment and where all the major
population centers are because there's a key principle at work here and that is
your distribution centres need to be closer to the demand so if you've got
products that are used by the general population most population most high
density population centers are going to draw your distribution centers towards
them and maybe i'll what worked this out on a map
in the office and show you that too in a subsequent video but we're talking
about general principles get closer to where the demand is but not here let me
show you where all the distribution centres are in Sydney
okay so we've come
from the Hawkesbury River about 40 kilometres south and now we're in Sydney
we're about 20 kilometres west of the central business district and this is
where all the warehouses are as you drive around this area it is just
warehouse central all of the major businesses in Sydney seem to have their
warehouses here now why is that do you think the area up near the Hawkesbury
you know land is cheaper labor is probably cheaper why does everybody have
their warehouses here
it all comes down again to proximity to your market
if you have a look at this location
we're at the junction of two major motorways
the m7 on the m4 we can be straight into Sydney during deliveries
very easily on the m7 we can go around the north of Sydney or around the south
of Sydney so the access points are really good for resupply into the
warehouses and also from here out to our customers so when you're looking at
warehouse location it's tempting sometimes to think about just the cost
of the land and the warehouse and maybe the local labor cost but you have to
weigh it all up because remember when we're up at the Hawkesbury I was saying
some of the biggest cost is actually the delivery transport out to your customers
and that's why although these companies are here because they're closer to their
customer base now I think what I need to do is to tell you a little bit about
what if you have multiple warehouses in a country where should you put those
we'll cover that in another video but if you found this useful do remember to
subscribe we'll keep you up to date with all of the videos and do please like it
if you in fact like it and comment below I'd be intrigued to know where you're
from when you're watching this what's your city and maybe you can tell me what
the equivalent area in your is like this so just a little bit of a
snapshot about where you should locate your warehouses in Sydney it's here in
the western suburbs not up in the Hawkesbury and remember it's the
proximity of to your customers that is the most important thing generally in
99% of cases talk to you soon